Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1918 — Spring Typhoid [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Spring Typhoid

By DR. SAMUEL G. DIXON

Connimooer of Health of Petuuylrania

The news of the loss of our transport reminds us of the way in which we are to be robbed of our young people during this war and should

awaken us, who remain at home, to the necessity of guarding our lives and protecting ourselves against disasters no less dangerous. From now on typhoid must be carefully watched as an enemy. Old winter has stored the. filth of the season on our hillsides and along

the banks of the streams. With the melting of the snow and ice in the spring, all of this filth will be washed into the streams and carried to our waterworks. This will test the filter plants to their capacities, many of which have too small a margin to care for an excessive flow of filth. Breakdowns will occur and the people must be prepared to protect themselves by boiling water for domestic purposes upon the first indication of trouble with their local water supplies. In view of the above, the question ought to arise in the people’s minds, with-all the money that is being spent in the beautifying of our cities, whether or not It would not be wiser to use this money for the enlarging and improving of the purification plants so that our waters may be safe, and wait a little longer for our boulevards and parkways. We certainly must use all known ways, and where possible, devise new ones, to protect the health of the young population and to conserve what we now have from unnecessary destruction.